GLM 5.3
$0.079 per 1M input tokens and $1.40 per 1M output tokens · 1.05M context · tools, reasoning, JSON, open weights.
Prices checked Oct 21, 2026 · tracked by LLM Cost Index since Oct 21, 2026
What GLM 5.3 costs per month
Estimated monthly bill for typical workloads, using the cached-input price for repeated context. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.
| Workload | Per month |
|---|---|
| Customer chatbot 1,000 conversations a day, 8 turns each | $146 |
| Document Q&A (RAG) 500 questions a day over retrieved documents | $17.60 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 200 tasks a day, long tool-heavy contexts | $61.77 |
| Content generation 30 long articles a day | $3.36 |
| Classification / extraction 100,000 short items a day | $134 |
Price history
We started tracking GLM 5.3 on Oct 21, 2026; the chart appears as soon as there is a second data point. See all recent price changes.
Where to run GLM 5.3: 47 providers
Wafer is the cheapest at $0.079 input / $1.40 output per 1M tokens. Uptime is the average over the last 30 days as reported by OpenRouter; see provider reliability.
| Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context | Uptime | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wafer | $0.079 | $1.40 | 1.05M | 99.5% | fp4 |
| InferenceNet | $0.08 | $4.38 | 1.05M | 99.4% | fp4 |
| InferenceNet | $0.08 | $4.38 | 1.05M | 99.3% | fp4 |
| Makora | $0.14 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 71.9% | fp4 |
| Reka | $0.14 | $4.20 | 1.05M | 99.8% | — |
| Wafer | $0.179 | $1.40 | 1.05M | 99.2% | fp4 |
| DekaLLM | $0.18 | $2.95 | 1.05M | 89.5% | — |
| AkashML | $0.19 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 100% | fp8 |
| Morph | $0.228 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 98.5% | fp8 |
| Io Net | $0.49 | $3.20 | 262K | 99.6% | fp8 |
| Inceptron | $0.55 | $1.40 | 1.05M | 96.9% | fp4 |
| DeepInfra | $0.563 | $2.50 | 1.05M | 97.5% | fp4 |
| Tenstorrent | $0.60 | $2.50 | 1.04M | 99.4% | fp8 |
| Novita | $0.63 | $1.98 | 1.05M | 100% | fp8 |
| GMICloud | $0.70 | $2.20 | 1.05M | 97.1% | fp8 |
| SiliconFlow | $0.70 | $2.20 | 1.05M | 95.4% | fp8 |
| Relace | $0.75 | $2.40 | 1.05M | 100% | — |
| Sail Research | $0.75 | $1.00 | 1.05M | 99.7% | fp8 |
| Sail Research | $0.75 | $1.00 | 1.05M | 100% | fp8 |
| Decart | $0.84 | $2.71 | 1.05M | 99.4% | fp4 |
| Phala | $0.84 | $2.64 | 1.05M | 99.8% | — |
| DigitalOcean | $0.91 | $2.86 | 1.05M | 98.4% | — |
| Alibaba | $1.19 | $3.74 | 1M | 100% | — |
| CoreWeave | $1.20 | $4.00 | 1.05M | 96.5% | fp8 |
| Friendli | $1.26 | $3.96 | 1.05M | 99.9% | — |
| AtlasCloud | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 99.4% | fp8 |
| Baidu | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 100% | fp8 |
| BaseTen | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 91.1% | fp4 |
| BaseTen | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 97% | fp4 |
| Cloudflare | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 100% | — |
| Crusoe | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 100% | fp4 |
| Fireworks | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 96.7% | — |
| Mistral | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 98.8% | nvfp4 |
| Mistral | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 98% | nvfp4 |
| Modal | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 97.7% | — |
| Nebius | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.02M | 93.2% | fp4 |
| Parasail | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 94.5% | fp8 |
| PrimeIntellect | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 98.9% | — |
| Together | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 91.9% | — |
| Venice | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1M | 77.8% | — |
| Z.AI | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1.05M | 100% | fp8 |
| Mistral | $1.54 | $4.84 | 1.05M | 99.8% | nvfp4 |
| BaseTen | $2.10 | $6.60 | 1.05M | 99.8% | priority tier, fp8 |
| BaseTen | $2.10 | $6.60 | 1.05M | 99.8% | priority tier, fp8 |
| Fireworks | $2.10 | $6.60 | 1.05M | 92.8% | priority tier |
| ModelRun | $2.10 | $6.60 | 1.05M | 96.7% | fp4 |
| Alibaba | $2.80 | $8.80 | 1M | 100% | priority tier |
Cheaper alternatives to GLM 5.3
Models with the same tool calling, structured output for at least 20% less (3:1 input/output mix), most capable first.
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic | $0.10 | $0.50 | 1M | visiontoolsreasoningJSON |
| GLM 5.3 Flash Z.ai | $0.041 | $0.12 | 1.05M | visiontoolsreasoningJSONopen weights |
| Ling 3.1 Flash inclusionAI | $0.075 | $0.225 | 262K | toolsreasoningJSON |
| GPT-6 Luna OpenAI | $0.10 | $0.50 | 1.05M | visiontoolsreasoningJSON |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash Xiaomi | $0.14 | $0.28 | 1.05M | visionaudiotoolsreasoningJSONopen weights |
How to pay less for GLM 5.3
For a customer chatbot (1,000 conversations a day, 8 turns each) that costs $146 a month at list price without caching:
| Option | Per month | You save |
|---|---|---|
| Move to Claude Haiku 5.5 (similar capabilities) | $58.56 | $87.48 (60%) |
Other workloads: cut-your-bill tool for GLM 5.3.
Compare GLM 5.3
Specifications
| Model ID | z-ai/glm-5.3 |
| Input | text |
| Output | text |
| Tool calling | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes |
| Reasoning mode | Yes |
| Open weights | Yes — zai-org/GLM-5.3 |
| Released | Aug 18, 2026 |
FAQ
- How much does GLM 5.3 cost?
- $0.079 per million input tokens and $1.40 per million output tokens; cached input costs $0.078 per million. Prices as of Oct 21, 2026.
- What is the context window of GLM 5.3?
- 1.05M tokens, with up to 944K output tokens per response.
- Does GLM 5.3 support images, tools and structured output?
- Images as input: no. Tool calling: yes. Structured (JSON) output: yes. Reasoning mode: yes.
- What are cheaper alternatives to GLM 5.3?
- Models with the same key capabilities for at least 20% less include Claude Haiku 5.5 ($0.10 / $0.50), GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.041 / $0.12), Ling 3.1 Flash ($0.075 / $0.225).
More from Z.ai: all Z.ai models · how we collect prices